Alai (阿來)?was born in 1959, in a Tibetan-inhabited region in the northwestern part of Sichuan Province in southwest China. After graduating from Barkam County Normal School in 1980, he became an amateur writer while teaching at a village school.
Alai‘s major works include short stories "Blood Stains" and "Remote Hot Spring;" novels "Red Poppies," "The Empty Hill" and "King Gesar;" essay collections "Ladders of the Land," "Becoming Affluent" and "Seeing."
He has won more than 10 literature awards, including the Mao Dun Literature Prize, the Chinese Media Award and the Gallant Horse Award. His works have been translated into more than 10 languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese and Korean.